Chapter 1 its the begining

It's the first day of her freshman year at the University of Nebraska, and Cath Avery arrives at her dorm room, 913 Pound Hall.

Her roommate Reagan and Reagan's friend Levi are already there.

Reagan's a cool-looking girl with a cigarette in her mouth, and Levi's a tall, lanky guy who asks Cath if she wants to go with them to get burgers.

Cath says no and waits in the room for her dad and her twin sister, Wren, to bring up the rest of her boxes.

In the meantime, she's about to have an anxiety meltdown.

Cath wanted Wren to be her roommate, but Wren wants to meet new people and stop being an identical twin all the time.

Their dad wants to take them out for pizza, but Wren and her new roommate Courtney are going to the freshman barbecue that night; Cath totally wants pizza, though.

On the way to the restaurant with her dad, she notices that everybody in the neighborhood is her age. Being surrounded by young people freaks her out.

Her dad gives her a pep talk, though, and tells her everything will be fine.

Back in her dorm room, with Reagan and Levi still out, Cath unpacks pictures of herself with Wren and Abel, her very safe, high school boyfriend.

She also unpacks her Simon Snow stuff, but not too much, because she doesn't want people to think she's a freak.

All she needs are a few pictures of Simon and Baz on her corkboard, plus her Simon and Baz commemorative busts.

Cath wakes up in her dorm room. Reagan isn't there, and Cath assumes she spent the night with Levi; she texts Abel, telling him it's her first day.

She changes clothes in the bathroom, because she doesn't want Reagan to walk in and catch her getting dressed.

After eating the protein bars she brought with her, so as to avoid the dining hall, Cath logs into her Fanfixx account.

She writes a message to her fans, apologizing for not uploading a chapter of Carry On, Simon yesterday.

Cath goes to her first class, American History. There are lots of students. Cath feels awkward.

After class, she's starving, so she goes back to her dorm room to eat some more protein bars.

When she gets there, Levi is sitting in the hallway waiting for Reagan, but Cath refuses to let him into their room since she doesn't know him well.

She calls Wren, who asks if Cath wants to meet her and Courtney for lunch at Selleck Hall tomorrow.

Reagan and Levi come walking in, and Levi starts making Reagan's bed and trying to make small talk with Cath who is, as you might expect, awkward.

Levi tells Cath his major is range management, and Reagan tells him not to go off about range management again.

Fast-forward to Fiction-Writing class, which Cath and everyone else in the room has been waiting for all week.

Professor Piper, a real-live author, is their teacher. She starts class by asking the room why people write fiction.

The students give lots of answers: to express themselves, to explore new worlds, to hear their own voices.

Cath's answer, which she doesn't say aloud: "To be somewhere else.[…] To avoid being anything or anywhere at all. […] To disappear."

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